Isidora Dolores Ibárruri Gómez was born in Gallarta in the Basque region of Spain. As the 8th of 11 children in a mining family, she was affected by the harsh working conditions that her father endured providing income to support the family. At 15, after her parents could no longer pay the tuition fee, she left school and started working as a seamstress and later as a cook. While working as a waitress in the city of Arboleda, she met Julián Ruiz Gabiña, a union activist and one of the founders of the Socialist Youth of Somorrostro, who introduced her to the movement, and its agenda. The couple got married in 1915, and soon after, Ibárruri joined the core group that in 1920 established the Spanish Communist Party (PCE – Partido Comunista de España) and renounced Catholicism. Over the next few years, Ibárruri immersed herself in Karl Marx’s writings and other socialists’ works. In 1918, at the age of 23, she published her first article on religious hypocrisy under the alias La Pasionaria – the Passionflower. Two years later, when the PCE was officially established, she was named a member of its Provincial Committee of the Basque. She served in various positions within the party, including a member of the Central Committee, and the Secretary of Women’s Affairs, while establishing herself as a journalist who promoted the cause. In 1931, following the formation of the Spanish Second Republic, Ibárruri moved to Madrid. There, she worked as the editor of the PCE’s newspaper Mundo Obrero, where she highlighted the issue of women’s rights. That same year, she traveled to Moscow with the party’s delegation to the Executive Committee of Communist International. As her reputation grew, so was the suspicion of the government, and she got frequently arrested. During this period, Ibárruri promoted cooperation between the PCE and other left-wing groups, co-founded the nonsectarian World Committee of Women Against War and Fascism, and led campaigns against the government’s repression of the population following the Revolution of October 1934. Two years later, at the age of 39, she entered the parliament as the PCE representative after the national elections of 1936. In this position, she lobbied for improving work and housing conditions and land reforms. At the time, she became known for her passionate and harsh criticism of fascist forces. In her radio and street speeches, she coined various phrases of the Republican resistance, including “No pasarán!” (They shall not pass!), and she became the symbol of the Republican cause. During the Spanish Civil War, which erupted in July 1936, Ibárruri emphasized the issues of women’s rights, arguing that in communist society, women must be treated equally to men, so their political and economic emancipation has to be a primary goal of the PCE. In addition to promoting the party’s agenda, she coordinated the evacuation of children from the war zone to safety. Following the victory of Francisco Franco in 1939, Ibárruri was among the tens of thousands of Republicans who fled Spain. She escaped to the Soviet Union and represented her party at Kremlin congresses as the PCE’s secretary-general. In 1960, she was asked to leave her position and was named president of the PCE, mostly an honorary title. No longer occupied with the party’s daily affairs, Ibárruri channeled her efforts toward other projects. She supervised the historical commission that documented the chronicles of the Spanish Civil War from the communist perspective (published in 1968), had a radio show broadcasted in Spain, and began to write her autobiography. On May 13th, 1977, 18 months after Franco’s death and after 36 years in exile, 82 years old Ibárruri returned to Spain. Upon her arrival, she was asked to run for the Spanish Parliament representing the newly legalized Spanish Communist Party. In the first free elections since 1936, held in June 1977, she was elected as a deputy from the Asturias constituency but resigned that same year due to health issues. She continued to participate in PCE congresses, political rallies, and Soviet holidays for the next decade. She died at the age of 94. Read more...

Clara Campoamor Rodríguez was born in Madrid, Spain, to a working-class family. Her father died when she was ten years old, and she had to leave school to help her mother and younger siblings. She did the house works, and at 13, worked as a seamstress while educating herself in her free time. At 21, Campoamor was hired as a telegraph assistant at the Post Office in San Sebastián and soon worked her way up in the office and then as a typing teacher in Madrid. At the time, Campoamor became involved in politics. She took a second job at a liberal newspaper, joined numerous women’s organizations, and published political commentaries at a liberal newspaper. In 1920, Campoamor realized that she had to further her primary education to get higher positions. So, at the age of 32, she began to take evening classes at a secondary school. After earning her university diploma, she enrolled in law school, and at the age of 36, Campoamor became the second woman to join the Madrid Bar Association. She founded a law firm specializing in women’s and children’s issues, defending women’s rights in divorce and paternity cases, and fighting for child labor laws. She also promoted women’s rights outside of work, co-founded the International Federation of Women Lawyers and the Spanish Women’s League for Peace. In 1931, after the Second Spanish Republic was formed, 43 years old Campoamor was among the 21 deputies elected to draft the constitution. Representing the Radical Party, Campoamor fought against sexual discrimination, for women’s right to divorce, for the legal equality of children born within and outside marriage, and for universal suffrage – the “women’s vote.” Promoting the cause, she became the first woman to address the Parliament’s plenary session in front of 470 men and one woman, arguing that preventing women from exercising their right to vote violates the natural law. Campoamor’s advocacy was opposed by both sides of the Parliament, including members of her party. She left the party and continued to represent women’s rights as an independent member of the assembly. With endless efforts and the support of women’s activists throughout the country, Campoamor managed to include in the new constitution the article that stated that “Citizens of either sex, over 23 years of age, will have the same rights elections as determined by law.” After the constitution got declared, Campoamor was outcasted by her party and lost her parliament seat in the elections of 1933. In 1936, on the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War, Campoamor had to flee the country. First, she moved to Argentina, where she worked as a translator, and then, after being denied to return to Spain by the Franco regime, she settled in Lausanne, Switzerland, where she returned to work as a lawyer. She died in exile at the age of 84. Read more...